Chris Houston: Lions hurt by having too many impending free agents in 2012

Posted by Josh Alper on July 30, 2013, 9:10 AM EST

AP

Bears General Manager Phil Emery said that he wouldn’t be signing any of the team’s impending free agents, a group that includes quarterback Jay Cutler and cornerback Charles Tillman in addition to other key contributors, before the end of the 2013 season.

The Bears’ plan would seem to be to use this first year under new coach Marc Trestman as a proving ground for the players with expiring contracts before picking which ones they want to keep around as the foundation for their team in the future. Emery said he hasn’t heard any bad vibes from players about that plan, but a player from one of the Bears’ divisional rivals offered up a note of caution on Monday.

Lions cornerback Chris Houston was headed toward free agency last year along with several other members of the Lions defense and said that led to problems that contributed to Detroit’s tumble from the playoffs to a 4-12 record.

“It left a bad taste, but you can see the chemistry is so much better now,” Houston said, via Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News. “A lot of guys were working for themselves last year. We got a lot of young guys now and they listen, no big egos or nothing. It’s going to be a much better year.”

Every team is different and you need only look at the Ravens to see how things can work out just fine for a team with a slew of players about to become free agents, so it’s not like the Bears are guaranteed to run into trouble. One could even argue that the way that players deal with impending free agency gives you another data point to use when deciding whether to commit long-term money and that the biggest lesson the Lions learned was that they had too many players who weren’t worthy of sticking around the team.

The Lions will make the Bear loving media look like a tool this year. The Lions may not win the North (Although they may), but they wont be below 2nd place for sure.

Thumbs down now will just cause you to chow down on humble pie in January.

Waffle 2.0 says:Jul 30, 2013 5:18 PM

filthymcnasty1 says:Jul 30, 2013 9:25 AM

The Bears really don’t want to pay the same guys that have lost 6 straight games to the Packers. Incompetence should not be rewarded.
————————————————
The Bears lost to the Packers in the past because of 1 things:
1. No coherent scheme or playcalling to cover for terrible O line combined with no weapons until last year.

Enter a true playcaller, an upgraded line and a scheme to limit the pressure on the line and the quarterback. Add that to the D that always does pretty well against the Pack and we should see a split between the two teams this year at the very least.

What linebackers are going to cover M.Bennett if they try to double Marshall? How likely is it that the refs will give the Pack so many OPI calls against Jeffrey?

jazsrt says:
Jul 30, 2013 12:22 PM
filthymcnasty1 says:
Jul 30, 2013 9:25 AM
The Bears really don’t want to pay the same guys that have lost 6 straight games to the Packers. Incompetence should not be rewarded.
___________________________________

The 49′ers are wondering the same thing about the Packers/Clay Matthews deal.

(albeit not 6 loses….yet.)
————————————
Clay and the Packers are wondering when these “Great” 49ers are gonna win a ring – nothing but hype – Jim’s 49ers are this decade’s Chargers – all HYPE with no rings to show for it.